3 Warren councilmembers under fire for comments made during live broadcast
The Warren city attorney has filed state Campaign Finance Act complaints against three city council members for comments they made during the Oct. 10 council meeting, using city equipment, which was broadcast live and is on video on the city's website.
The complaints by City Attorney Ethan Vinson come days after the Michigan Secretary of State's Office determined that Mayor Jim Fouts may have violated the state's Campaign Finance Act by endorsing candidates during his State of the City address in June, an address aired on TV Warren. Fouts was directed to reach out to informally resolve the complaint, which his attorney said Fouts intends to do.
Vinson, an ally of Fouts, said he filed complaints against Council members Mindy Moore, Garry Watts and Jonathan Lafferty, all of whom are seeking reelection and whose opponents were endorsed by Fouts. The complaints argue that they held up campaign material of their opponents and/or criticized them during the meeting.
Jeff Schroder, an attorney for the City Council who filed the complaint against Fouts, said Vinson "got it wrong again" and the council members "did not engage in express advocacy to vote for or against."
"It's a deliberate retaliatory attempt, an election attempt," Schroder said, adding he did not believe the counci lmembers had received the complaints.
'We're pointing out the hypocrisy'
Secretary of State spokesperson Cheri Hardmon said Wednesday the complaints were received Monday and are being processed by the Bureau of Elections.
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Vinson said in a release that last week the city was informed "it is a potential violation of the act to have any political material broadcast on Warren TV" and in response to that guidance, he "was compelled" to file the complaints against the council members.
Vinson told the Free Press the complaints are "not really retaliation. We're pointing out the hypocrisy. They're doing the same thing."
As expected, Schroder said the City Council on Tuesday approved a resolution regarding the Fouts complaint, asking the secretary of state and attorney general to "combat this illegal use of public resources with an appropriate fine and other penalties to adequately punish this repeat offense and to create a deterrent effect so that other public officials do not attempt to do this in the future." The resolution stated the city paid nearly $762 to resolve a prior Campaign Finance Act violation by Fouts.
Additional complaints filed in clerk race
Fouts, who is term-limited and not on the Nov. 7 ballot, is asking a federal appeals court to review a lower court's decision that dismissed a civil rights lawsuit he filed that requested the August primary election for mayor be decertified and a special mayoral election be held with his name on the ballot.
With his release, Vinson also sent out a Campaign Finance Act complaint filed by Sean Clark against Macomb County Commissioner Mai Xiong, who is running for city clerk against incumbent Sonya Buffa, who Fouts endorsed.
Barbie costume with a campaign message
Hardmon said the Secretary of State's Office had not received a complaint against Xiong.
The complaint Vinson provided states that a costume Xiong wore for a city event, which included a message to vote for her, should have included a "paid for" disclaimer that cited her committee and its address; that she campaigned on city property; that the city's parks and recreation department asked candidates to remove any campaign clothing and they were not permitted to distribute campaign literature.
Xiong, who had not heard about the complaint, wore a costume depicting a Barbie doll in a box to the Harvest Treat event Oct. 19. The costume included a message to vote for her for clerk. Xiong said when she got to the Warren Community Center, she was informed she had to remove that information, and she did so immediately out of respect. She said other people had political campaign signs at the event in 2022, and she did not think it would be an issue to bring the box bearing her name and date of the election.
"I'm very disheartened, but not surprised," she said of the complaint filed by Clark, who she and others said is the city's senior housing director of administration and a member of a "dark money" political action committee. "I think this is an attempt to come up with something to use against me. The stakes are higher. I'm running against the candidate they are supporting."
Contact Christina Hall: chall@freepress.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @challreporter.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Fouts ally files campaign finance complaints against council members
